Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Link's Wild Magic Castle Story | Ear Biscuits Ep. 494

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

That is NOT what you expect to hear at a magic show. In this episode, Link catches Rhett up about his latest rendezvous to the Magic Castle where he retells a wild story. Plus, the two decide what their favorite decade was and why, as well as give some pointers to combat someone trying to rage-bait you. Thank you to Oura for sponsoring a portion of today's episode. Discover how Oura can help you better understand your health and sleep. ouraring.com/ear Leave us a voicemail at 1-888-EARPOD-1 for a chance to be featured on the show! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is mythical. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast, where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Rhett. And I'm Leake this week at the roundtable of dim lighting. I'm going to tell you about some magic I experienced. Magic. Yep. Real magic?

Yes. No. Maybe. Well, coin. A lot of coin magic Also, just a quick reminder that Like we say, every time These last few episodes

We're taking a break An indefinite hiatus from your biscuits Yes, and you already knew that We are ending This year And beginning our hiatus With episode 4999

Yeah Oh, yeah Okay, yep 98 is gonna be the last one Which is special to us That's special Those of you who are upset that we're not getting all the way to 500, we just, you're gonna be constantly edging

for the rest of, for the rest of, you know, for however long it is. I'm just gonna be honest with you, that's what this is about. Well, there's a term for that, and I learned it yesterday. Oh, we're talking about gooning? Yes. What the crap, dude. We're asking you to goon indefinitely.

My therapist taught me that. When it comes to ear biscuits, it's a state of euphoria. I paid my therapist to teach me what gooning was. It's a state of euphoria as experienced by those who are coming close to the point of climax but not ever achieving it. For

hours and hours. Yeah. It's not good for you from what I hear. I don't understand. I also don't have the time. I don't have the time. I mean I don't know if I have the ability or the time. Yeah, yeah. And why is it called that? I don't know.

I don't want to know. I'm not part of the community. Next time I visit with my therapist, I'll pick up that conversation and get some more information. It says here it says it could have derived from being like foolish. Like you're just kind of like messing around. And so being like gooning. No, I think it's because the first time it ever happened, somebody was watching goonies and they were really into sloth. Ooh. You think somebody's raw dog and goonies?

Edging all through it. Goonies, gooners. That's a different type. That's the podcast that we're recommending whenever you need to fill the void of your biscuits next year. Goonies gooners. So, yes, we are phoning it in once again. Don't expect this to be great because, I know,

we don't want it. We want you to be glad that we're taking it up and up and afraid. But yes, I went to the magic castle. And we have populated this podcast with not one, not two, probably every single experience at the Magic Castle, I bet you we've talked about here at this desk. Probably. And if you will recall, I believe it was the last experience I had at the Magic Castle was traumatic for me. Again, what happened? That was when I was called upon to be a volunteer.

Oh, God, yes. And you cannot call on Link to be a participating in your magic trick. He told me to pick a colored Sharpie, and I picked a Sharpie, and then he wrote, he wrote something, and then I was like, you know what, I changed my mind. I don't remember if he wrote anything, but I changed my mind, and I picked another color, and he let me do it. And I just changed my mind. Like, can't a guy change his mind? Not in Magic Castle. Not in the midst of a trick that is reliant upon a strong choice from the person in order to make the trick happen.

Yeah. But there's plenty of times when they do say, you can change your mind if you want to. Yeah, not after they've begun to move to the next part of the trick. And then he moved to another trick. And I was like, hold on, what happened with the pen? You didn't finish that trick. And I was trying to help him out. And then he thought that I was rubbing it in.

He thought I sabotaged this trick, and then I wouldn't let him move on. And I was just being engaged is all I thought I was doing. I know that I messed up. Matter of fact, I knew I messed up that night. That's why I sought out the magician and apologized to him. And how did he respond? And I also apologize to the magician that we were guests of, because you can't just roll up to the magic castle.

You have to be a guest of a member who is a magician. And that was the last time I was invited, by the way. Yeah. And then the next time I tried to go... Ruined it for me. I backed out. But then it was... It's funny how the things that you have to consider...

Like, there are some things that I need to consider about going to the magic castle. Potentially creating an enemy is not one of the things. It's just not on my radar. I don't have to. I got to think about that. I got to think about creating an enemy of the entire magic world. Yeah, right. I mean, it was my friend's birthday, and he waited to the last minute.

I don't, somehow he got in for eight of us to go to the Magic Castle, like two days before. And I'm like, well, I can't say no, because I want to celebrate his birthday. And I was like, but I just feel like when I show up, they're going to have a picture of me behind the counter. Probably. And they're going to say, no, sir, you cannot come in. There's probably a slang magic term for the type of person that you are that will, if you accidentally choose them to participate in your trick,

you're risking it not going well. A mistake is what they call it. So I went. And we met our magician friend outside and I was already like, oh man, this guy's giving off magician energy. What kind of energy am I giving off? like magician-busting energy?

Yep. Am I like a Van Helsing to like a friggin' vampire? Do they feel it? Do they know that it's going to happen? What was the energy? What do you mean by that? I think I know what you mean,

but I want to hear it. There's an intensity in the eyes that gives me a sense of unease with a magician. Because I recently went to a poker night and there were two magicians at my table, which made me very uneasy. They gave an unease.

Well, because I was playing poker. Oh, yeah. You know, I'm playing it. Like, there's professional magicians here at this table. Yeah, working with cards. This isn't fair. He told a story that is his to tell and not mine, but it was quite amazing, so I'll tell it anyway. He's a young guy.

He's a mentalist. He was taught to be a mentalist because he did this thing on his own where he could remember people's names. Yes. And he could remember more people's names and more people's names. And then he discovered that he could, like, see a crowd of people and just remember all their names. Like, go down the, go down the aisles and just remember people's names. So it's just like something he did. And he was also into magic.

But a mentalist saw him do this and said, I think you might have the knack to take this to the next level. So I'm going to teach you this. And then he was kind of off to the races of wanting to. to be a magician, but he needed a job and he wanted to move to L.A. He was like in middle America somewhere. And a friend knew he was looking for a job, so he said, hey, a friend of mine has a job,

would you be interested in being a personal butler? Whoa, don't mind if I do. It was in L.A. And he was like, a personal butler. So he was like, yeah, so he was, He gets on an... Like Alfred. He gets on an interview.

He said, would you like to be a... Would you be open to being a personal butler to a high-profile client? Yes. Yes. What was the Fresh Prince of Bel Airis? Of course. The butler? Jeffrey.

Jeffrey. Yes. Of course I would want to be a Jeffrey. Yeah, be Jeffrey to, you know, the judge? Uncle Phil. Uncle Phil. He does an interview. And it's a quick interview, but then they ask for a headshot.

Yeah, sends him a headshot You gotta look at this person a lot Immediately gets a headshot And this guy is young, like early 20s Good looking dude With magicianize Okay They get his headshot

And they immediately respond And they're like All right, you're hired Can you come out to L.A. in five days And we'll start training And he's like, what? Butler training And then he goes

he goes he comes out to LA completely ghosted completely ghosted and he's like well I don't and um hold on before he came yes I think this is the way that it worked and then he's like applying for other jobs

he gets a job at P.F. Chang's out here not quite Butler mm-mm and then he gets a call from the guy recruited him and he's like we're ready now Are you ready for this? No, I'm at P.F. Chings, and I'm happy. And he's like, well, and then he's like, well, you know, he didn't have a good vibe about it because they got ghosted him.

He came all the way out to L.A. and he got ghosted completely. And then they got calls him and acts like, doesn't even mention it. Yeah, you don't want people to treat you like that. So I think because he put up some resistance, then he was like, well, he started giving him more information. And he said, well, are you? familiar with Diddy. And the guy was like, no, not really.

He was like, well, you would be Diddy's personal butler. Does that change your tune? And at the time, because this was years ago. Oh, my God. He was like, I just had this weird feeling in my gut. Always trust your gut. And so he said, I stuck with P.F. Chang's. And then fast forward to all this, everything going down with Diddy.

and in one news report, it mentioned his personal butler, which I guess was handling baby oil and whatnot. Yeah. And he saw a picture of the dude. And he was like, the dude looked just like me. It was just like... At a type. You know, some young magician.

The butler type. Yeah. And I said, well, what about the guy who recruited you? He was like, well, when all that went down, he fled to Brazil. He lives, he's now in Brazil. somehow he knew that about a guy. So then the rest of our party shows up, and we go inside. And then he made a dove appear?

He was making baby well appear all the time. That's all he was doing. That would have come in handy. Yeah, I don't have any more ditty jokes, but that, I mean, dude, that story, that story is like, I was gonna be on the plane that crashed, blah, blah, blah, blah. It was like one of those, I was supposed to be on that plane stories. I was supposed to be Diddy's butler, personal.

Yeah, that's wild, man. Butler. That is wild. Right now, there is a talented person out there who could take your company or your project to the next level. The question is, are they going to find your job post, or your competitors. That's exactly what Indeed sponsored jobs is for.

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to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash ears. Just go to indeed.com slash ears with an S right now and support us by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash ears. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, do it the right way with Indeed. So then we go in and we're talking, getting a drink,

waiting to go into the close-up magic room, and I just lean over to him because I built some rapport with him, and I said, sure. I just want to let you know that I'm going to kind of fade into the background. I'm not a call-on kind of guy. And then he's like, okay, okay. like, don't call on me. Don't.

And he was like, very good of you. Really? Really? Why? I was like, it just. I'm not a normal person. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, uh, I'm not call on material.

I don't follow the conventions that might make what you're trying to do work. I, uh, I messed up a, I messed up of, I messed up of one of your kinds efforts. But if you want a challenge, unintentionally. If you want a challenge, call on me. Yeah, so... If you want to risk it all? Right, it was up to him. Like, magicians risk at all.

If you want to see what... Call on me. You want to see what the mentalist in action version of being Dittie's Butler would be? Right. Call on me. And then the rest of the night, I was a bit miserable because I was still feeling like

I was going to get called on. You're worried. Yes, I was very uncomfortable. And a birthday boy got caught on, right? Point. Blank, range. Yeah, he got called on. I heard a little bit about that trick.

We won't discuss it. But I don't know how it's done and it makes me a little bit upset. I mean, doing the mentalist stuff when they can guess certain things, it's super cool. I mean, it's just so hard to figure it out. You know that he's planting answers in people's minds,

but how could he plant? Then he got, he got him to, I have to tell it. He got him to think about somebody. Just think about somebody. And then he started asking him all these questions about the person he's thinking about. And he's like,

I can tell that you're in your living room. I can see the couch and the couch turns sideways and there's an end table here and there's a vase, there's a blue vase on it. And my friend, the birthday boy, is like, yeah, his eyes are closed. He's visualizing. And the guy's telling him what he's visualizing

in his own house. And he said, now visualize the person, like, materializing on the couch. And then he was like, she's wearing a red bathing suit. And she's toweling off, which is the strangest thing for somebody to be doing in a living room, right? But that is exactly what he is. It was figuring. There's something going on there. And he plants things ahead of time that make you think that.

but it's just so wild to be able to do it. And then he guessed her name. He guessed her name. And it was his daughter. He doesn't know her. And he didn't talk to. He's just really good at it. I mean, he's really good at it.

He also did the thing where it's like, it's upsetting. He tapped, he had one person blindfolded on one side and another person on the other side of the room. And the person that was blindfolded, the person not blindfolded, he goes up and taps that person in places. And then the blindfolded,

person is like tell me where you felt being tapped and on her back on her arm it just kept working it is wild dude and I and again I felt uncomfortable I'm uncomfortable hearing about it because I don't I know that there's a well first of all I know that if it were explained to you can't explain it because you can't explain it you can't explain it yeah it is an explanation for it and you'd be like oh that's what it is but the specifics of how it works are held so secret You know, that's part of it. And I think that that's a beautiful thing

that it's held so secret, but I'm uncomfortable with being subjected to something that somebody else knows how it... I mean, I don't know, it's just... There are also some magicians... This happened to us in the big room. The big room is the wild card

because people are putting on presentations. This is where we saw the mind-blowing pigeon... The dove-making man. That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. He can make doves out of every part of his body. I just love when a dove comes out of nowhere. And it just kept coming over and over and over again. That's a classic.

I was like, those doves probably not doing too well. But I'll tell you right now, they keep appearing. Yeah. I don't know where they go, and I don't know what their life is like. But I know that in this moment, it's the greatest thing I've ever seen. We were having one of the best times of our lives with the dove man. Yeah. On that same stage, there was this, I'm not going to describe who they are,

because I'm being kind of critical, but... And I've noticed this a few times. There was a point in the act where they got totally serious. I thought you were going to say nude. No. They got serious. Ultra call it. And they started talking about how...

It started talking... It was a duo, so they were talking about being friends and how he and his family were like down and out, and they didn't have a place to stay. And then they stay with this other... magician on stage and like there was no there was no magic there was no jokes it was just like it all it felt like an altar call in a church yeah uh-huh all of a sudden it got serious and this guy just like pouring his heart out about how good a frenzy is with this other

magician and i'm like what's this what's happened it's a tight-knit family what's happened but what why why are you finding out now what why are you why is this a part of your act why is a part of Like this sincere, like, syrupy moment where we're all supposed to be like, oh, magic brings people together who don't, who are down and out or something. Yeah. It's just, I didn't feel like that was necessary. I mean, if you were doing it, if this was like a community youth theater. Right, for troubled teens or something, I don't know.

It's like maybe they need a strong. positive message, you know, but... Right, but you don't need that. I don't need a positive message. You don't need a positive message at this point in your life. It's all used up. I need doves. You know?

Right. Like, let's talk more doves, homie. You are impervious to positive messages. Are you getting tears in your eyes? Yeah. Well, is it going to turn into a dove? I mean, he got that... Take this to the troubled teens.

He got that sincere. I mean, he was like getting emotional. I was like, well, you know what gets me emotional? Doves. Yeah. There was not a dove to be seen, I assume. I didn't see a dove all night. What I did see was coins.

Now, I know coins are a magic thing, but... Silver dollars? I think it's on an upper trend. Everybody was going back to the coin basics. And, I mean... Well, it's because the penny's going away. Oh, that's it. Yeah, it's a subconscious rebellion.

Our guy Matt, Matt, with one T, the mentalist. Yeah. He was amazing, and he could do this. stuff with coins and he was describing how it's kind of a right of passage to be able to move coins between hands and to do this trick with like the four corners coin trick and you're moving your hands around and it's like classic sleight of hand and he was so good at it because he's got young hands young hands you know and i see what did he saw in him oh yeah well i'm not I'm not going to say anything about that.

Yeah. So that's my Magic Castle experience. I can't have more than one every two years. Yeah, you got to paste it out. I just can't, I can't go back there. Yeah, I can't go back. Proportion it out. You feeling okay?

Do you want to go back? I do want to go back, but I... You look like you feel sick. I feel like I need a break. Yeah, you need... After my story, it's like you've gone back. I wanted to go back, and now I feel differently about it. I know, and you and I...

these feelings and then people are, our friends want to go and they're so excited about it. I don't have as many feelings about it as you do. Yeah, but we're on the same page, right? Yeah, but I can overlook it in a different way. I'm saying, I understand magic eyes and all that stuff. Magic

hands. Mm-hmm. Doveless, serious magic presentations. But I kind of just go along. I just kind of go with the flow. And I kind of and if doves are there, I'm going to have a better time. If doves aren't there, I'm going to be like, well, you know, wasn't the best.

See, that's because you haven't hit the rock bottom of magic like I have. But we had, we're not gonna talk about it because we were told not to talk about it. So you're gonna talk about not talking about that? We had the best night of entertainment that I've ever had, I think, maybe. And but- You're not gonna say what-

I was literally told that I was supposed to talk about it. Well, this is frustrating. I'll just say that it was immersive, interactive experience that took place at a location in Los Angeles, and that's all I'm gonna say. about it. They don't want you to share the name of it. They specifically said to not talk about it. I shouldn't even brought it up. All right, but let's pivot. It's better than the Magic Castle though. But the Magic Castle is great. And I want to go back, but I'm just

saying that this thing that I'm talking about, one of the best nights of my life. I don't wish I could talk about it. You can't. I know it hurts you. Why'd you bring it up? I was there too. I wanted to see you struggle and I want you to build that muscle of impulse control. Let's talk about aura. Yeah, okay. Because the makeup of ORA Ring because they are a sponsor. Yes, they are. Yes! We've been investors in ORA Ring for, since we first heard about ORA.

Going pretty far back, yeah. Which is a match made in heaven because we utilize our ORA rings every moment of our lives. Yes, we do. How ready are you right now in your data here? I'm going to click on my readiness score. It takes all these contributors, resting heart rate, HRV, body temps, recovery, sleep, activity, previous day activity, sleep regulator,

all these different things which they show you, it boils down to a score. And mine says 79, good. Your overall readiness is good, but your resting heart rate lowered late last night. Could it be that you ate, too close to bedtime? Eating earlier in the evening can give enough time

for your digest, this isn't to do his job. So, did I? Oh, crap, I did. I did eat a little something. Just a little something. And it may, so now I'm going to think about that next time. Well, you're doing better than me. I'm 70.

Ha! Which is still in the good range. But mine is also my resting heart rate, which was elevated because I ate. a lot last night. Why were you eating a lot? Well, I got in a little bit late. There's a couple of things that I'm a little bit stressed out about,

and then I just found myself eating, I found myself taking, after I ate dinner, which was just something I warmed up, taking out artichoke, Parmesan artichoke dip, and just taking some pita chips and just sitting down in front of the basketball game, watching state play, and just, and then the whole thing was gone.

Oh, God. And so my ring knows that happened because it was reflected in my resting heart rate. You see what happens here? You get all this information, and it helps you. Keeping track of our long-term health, super important to us, ORA ring has made it that much easier to be aware of all the factors that play into our health.

Join the over 1 million active members today by clicking the link in the description to make health and wellness a daily practice at ora ring.com slash ear. Want to hear a voicemail? Yeah, I do. Hi, Renton, Link. This is Bailey from Arizona,

but I actually lived in Japan for seven years, and I just heard Link was heading there at the end of this year. So I have some suggestions. Try to make it to Enoshima, which is an island, very close to Tokyo. It's maybe an hour and a half train ride,

but it's beautiful and it's not very touristy. I think you'd love it. There's wonderful food, beautiful ocean, and really, really cool things to see. There's also Yokohama, which is another wonderful place that I think you should go to. Also on the ocean, and you can hit Chinatown there and the Red Brick warehouse. It's phenomenal. Anyway, I'm sad you're ending your biscuits, but it's okay.

Take care of yourself. Love you, bye. Thank you. You're going to let this alter your plans? Yes, now I'm going to go all the way to Japan in order to go to Chinatown. What? I'm going to go to Japan to go to Chinatown. It's probably the best Chinatown in the world.

And I went to San Francisco and I went to their Chinatown. I've been to LA's Chinatown. I guess I will go to maybe it's Tokyo's Chinatown. Well, take those into account, but I will let you know. I don't know if you know this, but I've been texting your wife again. I've been texting your wife again. Okay. That's fine.

Because I know that she cares about this stuff. So when a really interesting food from Japan pops up in my feed, social media feed, I don't send it to you, I send it to Christy. Smart. Because I know that you're not going to look at it. Like, you won't even look at it probably. And you definitely won't look at food and then make a decision based on food. Right.

But I know Christy thinks more like me. And Lando does. And so I've sent her like this pizza. I sent her this burger. The burger. Christy was like, Rats sending me Japanese food. Yeah, right.

And I'm like, oh yeah, and I look over her shoulder, and it's like a smash burger cut in half. And then put back into... Put vertically, like face down, like the side of it becomes the bottom in like a cauldron of cheese. Is it too... That's just been burbling that burbling.

Is it too late? Let's just like, is it too late for me to tag in to be the one to go on the trip. Surrogate husband? Because I'm the one that wants to go to Japan so bad. And you are the one who gets to go to Japan. I'm sorry, dude.

You don't even care that much, man. Like, I want to, it's my dream trip. And I was trying to get Locke and Shepard to do it because we're going to take Locke somewhere next summer for his graduation. And then I was like, Locke, let's go to Japan. But he already went to Japan this past summer. He's like, I want to go to Latvia.

Lotvia? And I'm like, why? Because they have an amazing Chinatown. Yeah, like, why? The Latvia and Chinatown. What are we doing here, man? What are we doing here? I'm very excited about going to Japan.

It's beautiful. They have vinyl bars. It's where vinyl bars, listening bars, started. And, you know, I'm building one of those in my house. So I want to experience those and do some. vinyl shopping. I also want to do a little snowboarding. Inside? No, just on a Japanese mountain. There's plenty of those. And I've heard really good things about it. So Lincoln and I are trying to take a day to go snowboarding. I will let you know right now that I will let you know

how it goes after it happens. But will it be on your biscuits? No, because we're taking a break. I will let you know on a Good Mythical More episode, maybe more. Maybe more than one. I'll try to take a little footage to kind of round it out. I mean, not to sign you up for things, but you're also going to, people can find out some things maybe through the mythical society, because some of the things might be there as well. Yeah, we're putting more stuff like that over there. The main reason for this trip is Landos turn is 16, and we wanted to do, and he's always wanted to go.

Lincoln is going with us Lily's not able to go but the main thing and he's interested in a lot of stuff a lot of food but studio Ghibli he's a big bearded away

big fan of all of those movies I called it Ghibli for the longest time but that's not how you say it you can you can take a tour but I'm having trouble getting tickets so if anybody's got

any sort of connection to Studio Ghibli, DM me on Instagram, reach out, because I'm looking for a way in because the tickets go on sale every month and then they just sell out immediately. What's so great about the tour, the studio tour? It's a museum, it's not a studio. Okay. I thought it was a studio, maybe I said that.

Landau's a huge fan, he wants to do it. It's like when Lily turned 16, She was a huge fan of Harry Potter, and she chose to go to London, and we went to like the Harry Potter workshop, studio, and all that, and that was awesome. So this is, like, his version of that. But I got to, I got to find some strings to pull because it's so hard to get tickets. Maybe there's a little bit of a, maybe there's like a rip-off for the people who don't get in. Maybe there is a studio Ghibli.

Oh, you know. Here, son. Studio Ghibli. You've been saying it wrong. No, I haven't. It's just small. You've been saying it wrong, son. It's small, and it's made out of cardboard.

Oh, and I have to blindfold you to get there. Yeah. Because it's not even... I'm jealous that you're going... The food, man. Where are you going for the holidays? North Carolina. Ha! Not jealous.

Yeah. Now, it's a completely different thing. Our kids are going to be with us for... a week and then Lock and Shepherd are leaving coming back to L.A. Jesse and I stay in

North Carolina just two of us for like another week and a half. Because you know... With our dogs, just us and our other kids. And you got your cabin and you've renovated it and it's amazing. And you still haven't spent that much time there.

So it's kind of just slowing things down. I'm very much looking forward to it. But I really, in terms of travel, I'm actually trying to do less travel in terms of, like, international travel. Like, I don't want to, like, I want to go everywhere. But there's a few places that I just definitely have to go to in Japan is at the tippity top of the list. I don't know if it's an L.A. thing, but so many people are going to Japan. Well, we're closer to it, I guess.

I feel like I'm going to want to go back. So whenever you go back, I'll go back. How long is the flight? I mean, still long. You got across the Pacific. I don't know. 12 hours? I don't think it's that...

I don't think it's that as far, because that's almost like Australia level. Australia, I think, took us like 15. Yeah, it says to Tokyo. It's about 12 hours. Oh, dang. So, okay, that's still a long-ass flight. Yeah, it is.

I'm very excited. Thank you for the voicemail tips a la play that back in my free time and write it down. I'm going to spend almost a week in Tokyo. Then we're going to Osaka for like four days and then we're going to Kyoto for the last four days. So we're experiencing three cities, but there's so much to experience. I mean, I'm overwhelmed already and we haven't even planned enough yet because people are like, well, you got to reserve stuff years in advance if you want to get in anything. and it's like, well, we're just gonna have to take it as it comes.

It'll all be, it'll all be like overwhelmingly incredible, even if you don't go to this stuff that's supposed to be the best. As long as you're jealous, I'm happy. Well, I had somebody tell me that because of the way that the internet has impacted travel, you've got the place that has like, okay, you can go to this place that went viral on Instagram that the weight will be two hours,

or you can go to the place that is almost as good that didn't go viral, and just go in. Yeah, around the corner. I think finding a thing that's like, what's like this, but I don't have to sit around waits. That's what Rick Steves told me. He said, don't wait in a line.

You didn't go on vacation to wait in a line. Was Rick Steves in a vacation to wait in a line? No, I just watched a video where he was talking. Well, he wasn't talking just to you. But I heard it, and he was looking at me, so. Well, we look forward to hearing about it. I'll tell you all about North Carolina. He soar a little bit about it.

I'm glad to see it. Hi, Wet and Link. This is Jeannie, originally from Virginia. I wanted to call in and ask you guys about your best tips and tricks for having a successful family vacation. Because you guys have vacated a lot, and I feel like we can all learn a little something from how you guys managed to stay composed. throughout your vacations. Do you guys have any best tips and tricks? Thanks so much.

Long-time listener of the pod. Love you guys. It's interesting that the takeaway is that we have remained composed during our vacations, which is not how I would describe most of it. Yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't think I've been composed

for most of it. I mean, you know, it's, the thing is, if you can throw a lot of, lot of money at a vacation, it makes a big difference because you're, especially when it comes to traveling with kids, and I'm going to talk about older kids because that's what I have, especially as they get older and bigger, you just need more space. You just got to, if you can have space to be apart, if you're all crammed into like sharing beds and staying in one room, that's,

that's difficult, you know? And so I think that's the difficulty with travel is that, It is so expensive. And if you want to go somewhere, then you're like, well, I'm going to spend less on the lodging so that we can experience more and buy tickets to things and whatnot and spend our budget on that. But then you're sleeping on top of each other, and it's tough. So one way to approach this would be the best way to go on a family vacation is to not necessarily take your family. Bingo. Is that what I hear? Is that what I've reamed between the lines?

Yeah. No, I understand that. To me, I think that I have just gotten into a place where you lower your expectations. I mean, I'm just being, I'm going to be real here. I've had some great vacations, but I think one of the reasons that I think of them finally is because when I was younger, I would go into every vacation. I would build it up like it was going to be, oh, God, just, when I go on that vacation, like I'm thinking about that vacation, I'm thinking about all the choices that I've made

and all the planning that I've done for, the food and the places we're going to see, and I've got it all locked in, and you build it up, and then you're there, and things don't quite go exactly as you envision. And then also, it's over before you know it, and you're coming back home, and you're like, what just happened, and why do I have this feeling of emptiness and disappointment? and I just did something that I really wanted to do. Right. And you've got one kid who's like weeping in the car

breaking up with their boyfriend. Yeah. While abroad. Yep. And you got another one who is, you know, saying, well, opinionated about all the stuff that's been planned. Yeah. And then you've got another one that's just constipated

because their whole eating routine is messed up. is messed up, no, it is me. Oh. I'm literally constipated. I'm just trying to find... Just looking for an enema. The nearest enema.

Yeah, yeah. Like, trying to translate enema into French. Yeah, or Thai. That's literally what happened. I was literally pulling up pictures of enemas and showing them to clerks in Thailand. Yeah, right. It's like, I was bending over and pointing to my butthole.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you? You, me, this? Later? Now? Please. So I do think that lowering your expectations to be like, I don't have to see everything. This doesn't have to go in any particular way.

Like plan well, yes, but set expectations relatively low and just be like, I'm going to embrace whatever happens. I feel like I've gotten better at that the more that I've traveled. And the most recent trip that we went, Jesse and I went on and went to Croatia.

Yeah, but that was just a two of y'all. Yeah, that's true. that's true so it was more enjoyable because of that but I'm trying to remember the last one that was the four of us because it has been a while but I had gotten to a place where I was like listen if we get out of here alive it is a success I here's a key if you got older kids this phrase fine don't do it you get different a different point different kids are like, I don't wanna do that, fine, don't do it. You don't have to go.

Yeah. You don't have to do it. Just stay here. Right. Or do something else. Just make sure you're not alone. Have a buddy with you. Take one of your siblings or something, you know?

That's the great thing about as they get older. The bad thing is that they take up more space and you have to account for that. Like, if you're like getting hotels, then all of a sudden you gotta get another room. Yeah. I mean, unless you're just putting them out on the streets of Thailand, you know, in Bangkok. You guys went around Bangkok, I'm going to bed. Right. You can do that.

Give them a scooter. But saying, like, not forcing your kids to respond or have the best time. You know, lead a horse to water, and then it's up to them to drink. Don't get caught up and trying to get them to enjoy things in the way that you enjoy them, especially their teenagers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Here's the thing.

If they're really young, you're going to have to do things that you don't enjoy, that they enjoy. And if they're teenagers, they could enjoy the same things that you want to enjoy, but because you enjoy them, they won't. They won't. Right. But because you know they can. It's frustrating. And you'll let, and just let them not enjoy it.

Yeah. But ignore them. Ignore that. Yep. Just like we tell people who come to our house, ignore Sean. Ignore Sean for the first hour. He's not going to kill you. He only seems that way.

Even if he bites you, ignore him? He only bites you if you don't ignore him. Oh, yeah, right. If you ignore him, he won't bite you. And then he's the sweetest little thing he ever saw. At Desjardin, we speak. We speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice, and we can talk your ear off about transferring

your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do, business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us, and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk, business. Next Hello, Red and Link This is killing I wanted to ask you guys a question I ask all old people

Not saying that you're old But you're getting there What is your favorite decade That you've lived in And what is the invention That blew your mind Generally, I get the 50s Not that you guys were alive

And the microwaves or the refrigerator I'm yeah, curious what you guys think Thanks, bye Is he saying his answer is the 50s and the refrigerator? He said the microwave. He said that's the typical answers he's gotten when he's asked about it. Oh, yeah. Okay, so he's asking even older people than us, that's for sure.

Okay, the invention is throwing me off a little bit. Maybe there'll be a way to squirrel our way back into this. Okay. We have a very distinct, we are a very distinct age that allows for something to have happened. And that only happens with people of an exact age. We experienced middle school, high school, and college. All of like our formative school years started like middle school through college, completely in the 90s. Now, college went a little bit into 2000, right?

and you did the co-op thing, so, 2001, but, um, okay, so what's the ramifications of that like 90, 991, 92, middle school, 92, 96, high school, 96, 2000, I'm just saying that well, we were talking about this the other day with somebody, um, a friend who knows my boys and does it, they don't live in this country and so they were with us and they have been with lock and Shepard at different phases in their life. But it'll be like, we were here when Shepard was this old, and then he was this old, and then Lott was about to go to college,

and now Lott's about to graduate. And they were talking about how their lives have not changed a lot because they're middle-aged people. And four years passed for a middle-aged person, and you're like, it means nothing. It's like it might mean nothing. Yeah, it's like it could mean nothing. But 1990 to 94, what happened in 94?

Just the amount of change. Just the amount of hair that grew. Right. In places. But the amount of experiences that seem to get shoved into your life at those pivotal years compared to anything after. And so I just think about, I think of the 90s. I mean, yeah.

Because it also, like I know this is tough because when I talk about school, I talk about it with a fondness and a lot of people hated school they hated college and I acknowledge that but I'm just saying for me that time of my life was just it was confusing and weird

in a lot of ways but it was like it was secure yeah the 90s were the 90s was a good time to be that age right I thought you were going to say something about cell phones and then Because that, I mean, we experienced all of that note without cell phones.

The thing that happened in the 90s for us is the Internet. Is the Internet. I mean, that's the obvious big, big, big answer. Yeah, and it basically became a part of popular culture during that time. The toaster ovens that can accommodate a bagel? That is, that rivals it. The 90s is the answer on both fronts. You're right, because the Internet is the most.

significant innovation in any of our lives transformed all of our lives in the world in ways much more significantly than anything else I can point to right and that happened during that time where we were being like inundated with change wouldn't you say computing more than I computing is a bigger invention than the internet but like personal computing I would say because there were computers right there were Yeah, personal computers were a big deal. Yeah, I don't think it's computing. I do think it's the consumer.

I think it's a consumer having the power. Access to the Internet. But I think it's the – I would say the Internet because it's the access to information. Yeah, but once AI takes over, we're going to go back and say it was computing. Maybe. Yeah. But, yeah, I think it was suddenly being exposed to every other perspective. And that was something that began to unfold more in the earth.

early arts. We literally had to go to college, and we went 40 minutes away in order to be exposed to other ideas. That was kind of the point of college. And the ideas weren't that different. No, and probably, it's probably one of the reasons why people say you don't need to go to college. I don't, I don't listen to it. I don't know about any of those reasons, but I'm assuming that's probably one of them. Are you saying in the 90s is your favorite decade? Did he ask for favorite decade? Yeah, best so far.

Best decade. Hmm. I mean, I've had a lot of good decades. The 2020s have not been great. 2020s have sucked. I mean, yeah, maybe the 2000s? I don't know. I'm going to have to go, the 80s were fun, dude.

They were great. But we were too young for them. Too young for a good portion of it. We're too young for most of it. So yeah, it's gotta be the 90s. Just think of all the adventures that we had in the 90s and how everything that we do now... It was the last...

All the groundwork was laid for it. Yeah, it was the last puff of... Poof of innocence before the internet took hold. Yes. It was when porn was in a magazine. Yeah. In the woods. underneath some pine straw

molded you know what I mean? In all the wrong places and it was just a completely different time you know and now like when you talk about like just personally I mean there's something great about each decade after that the aughts was I kind of

that was us going from that stage in our lives of like being schoolboys to being professional whatever we are. You know, from like 2000 to 2010. That was the big transitional struggle decade. But in 2011, we moved to L.A. And like 2011 to 2019,

that was pretty exciting for us. To me, that was, that's characterized by us sort of becoming the version of who we are personally and professional. in a way that from a life transformation standpoint was very significant. So 2010 might be a candidate. It was hard, though.

It was very fun and good, and a lot of things went really well. But it was just, you know... Things are so much, aren't hard for us now. It aged me. It probably didn't age me as much as the 2020s have aged me. I'm feeling really good about the 2030s. I think

I think that's my choice I'm going for the 30s 30s 30s are going to be great The 30s are going to be so good Probably not Come on Maybe we can hope

We can hope We can hope That's all we can do Yeah we can hope At the moment At the moment Hi Lincoln Rhett This is Grace from Des Moines

Iowa I just wanted to ask you What your opinion is On lying just for fun At some point, I realize that I can tell ridiculous lies, and as long as I don't make an obvious, I'm joking, boys, people will believe me. Like, I had someone fully convinced last week that my middle name was bread. Of course, I always let them know that I was lying immediately after, so I can laugh at their goal ability, but what do you think? Is it okay to lie for no reason, for my own personal amusement, or should I stop messing with people?

Also, I was lying earlier, and my name is actually Ginger, and I'm from Cedar City, Utah. Thanks, guys. Oh God, ginger. What? Gingerbread. That made sense now, gingerbread. So, hold on. Oh, yes, so not lying.

Hold on, maybe that was a, maybe that was the lie. Maybe that was the lie? Gingerbread. Gingerbread Jenkins. Well, I know what you're going to say. Well, we talked about this a little bit on the basement yard podcast when we were guests with Joe and Frank about lying to your kids to your kids because they do that.

Frank does that. Yeah. And... We're kindred spirits with those boys. And... I know you like to lie. And I love you like to lie to your kids. I don't...

Growing up, you lied to the kids a lot. When they were kids, yeah. I don't... They need to be suspicious. I don't do that anymore. You need to teach them suspicion... I think it's fine. To think for themselves.

Annalization. Don't just blindly trust your unconditionally loving parents Yeah, they need to know. Even those closest to you can be feeding you a bull. Every single thing needs to be questioned.

Mm-hmm. Or you could just say question everything. No, I like the other version. Every single thing needs to be questioned. Every single thing. What? But I don't necessarily... Okay, you tell somebody your middle name is bread

and you're not talking to a child. talking to a friend and then you tell them that you're joking yeah and then what is it that they are supposed to get out of that a little distance I think yeah like well I'm gonna get distance I'm gonna put distance in this relationship because I was now the butter your joke you made me seem like an idiot I was recently talking to a friend and he said that I would never be friends with somebody if I was constantly the butt of the joke that he went to Paris on On a second date, he's not from here.

Well, hold on, did he already live in Paris? He lives in England, so you can get to Paris, like, through the bridge. For a second date? Yeah, you can do that. You can get to Paris and, like, how far from London? Just like, it's just through the bridge, the tunnel. You go, yeah, through the underground, like, tunnel. That's a commitment on a date, though.

I don't think it's, like, maybe an hour. I'm not going to, I'm not going in a tunnel on a second date. Well, if you pop out in another country, that's, that's, that's, that's. In Europe is different, man. That's full, that's like I'm in a committed relationship travel. But he- Two hours from London to Paris on the train. Two hours on the second day? I mean, maybe the first day was great.

They're still together. So, okay. He's in Paris. Oh, if you take the tunnel though, in a car, it's 35 minutes. Oh, see? And why would you take the train? That's just like going to Raleigh for a date from Fukuway, man. Yeah, yeah, maybe I would say, meet me there.

So they're at a restaurant. And the waitress brings something, and he says, Merci Bacu. And then she says, you speak French. And he said, in that moment, he had a decision to make. And he was like, yes. He was lying. And he said for like a couple months past,

and they're back in England. There's no reason to speak French. But she introduces him to a friend who is French. Or she's introducing him to somebody, and she's like, I'm French, or I'm from France. And she's like, oh, so-and-so knows French. And then he didn't really know French, but he knew the word for, I think, or she thinks or something like that.

And so he kind of like threw together, like, she thinks I speak French. Ah. And then she was, like, immediately, like, went and just went along with it. Yes. Like another month passed. So, I mean, so I can't say, I mean, we know, we know, I know how to say I eat green beans in French,

but I don't know how to say she thinks I speak French, but that was perfect. Perfect trapdoor right there. So then another month passes, and then he is telling her about something that he was joking about that was small and unrelated. And then he was like, oh, and by the way, I don't speak French. He was like, now is the time.

Now is the time to go ahead and just say, I don't speak French. And they're still together, and they have a great relationship, as far as I can tell. But who are you to say? How can you even tell? Well, I mean, I'm only hearing one side of the relationship. But I'm just saying...

You hear her side, and it's like, well, he's a habitual liar. This is the conclusion I came to in that situation. It shows that he's got an interesting sense of humor that I always appreciate. And also that someone who's willing to take that chance in the moment and be like, I'm going to figure this out. She thinks I speak French. I think that makes a great relationship story. I don't think, he wasn't betraying her.

He wasn't like, I'm not the person who you think I am kind of thing. It was more like, this is a fun little thing. Let me see how far I can take it. I think that this shows that you have a good sense of humor. I think that you're on to something here. Second dates are the time. To lie. To lie.

It's the time to really go for something that then, if the relationship works out long term, it's the thing that you're always talking about. And if you didn't get that on your first date, like the first, like, if you don't have a, this is how we met story, that you can both be like competing to tell the story whenever you hang out with people you're getting to know for the rest of your relationship,

if you didn't get that on date one, you got to go hard for the story on date two. Because after that, it's over. And then you can just make, there's no stories. Remember our third date? Oh my God. Terry. Tell him what happened on our third date. No, it's too late. Second date, though. Remember when we went in that tunnel to Paris? It was only our second date. I still barely knew the guy, and I found out that he spoke French. Until I discovered he didn't. Wow. Best story so far. Best story so far. I think that's just, that's the energy that you're looking for. Yeah. Lie, cheat, steal.

Bleed, borrow. Okay. That's, it covered a lot there. Strip. Whatever it takes. Harmless lies. Yeah. Because there's somebody out there who's going to be like, Okay, so I can have a second family?

We're not talking about having a second family. I would say, but, you know. That's second date, you know? Second date is your last opportunity. Not second families. To have a relationship story. How'd you guys meet? Make it count.

Well, I can tell you about our second date. They'll still listen, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How did you guys meet? Well, I could tell you about our third date. Not going to listen. That seems weird. Yeah, exactly.

But the second date seems perfectly normal to say that. It was our first international experience together. How we met, not important. Second date, buckle up. I would be fully investing. Yeah. Oh, I'm sad. Yeah, tell me this.

Lose a tooth. I think that could be a good one. Yeah, make the second date count. Just like, if you really like the person, the first date's over, you're thinking about asking them on the second date, should go ahead and loosen that tooth. Yeah, yeah.

You know, you want that thing to fall out in her champagne glass or in her mouth when you have that goodbye kiss. Oh my God, the end of our second date? His tooth fell out. I swallowed his tooth. What? That's the type of.

a story that you need. The message here is, for your second date, go in the tunnel. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Go in the tunnel. If you didn't go in the tunnel in your first date, do it the second date. Go in the tunnel. Let them in your tunnel.

No. No. And then third. Explore the tunnel on your second date. The English Channel. Swim the English Channel. No. No.

Okay. Let's have one more good one, Jamie. One more good one. Okay, do-dokey. Let's do this one. Hey, you're at Lincoln, Jenna. This is Autumn from South Carolina. So there's this girl I work with who I swear is rage-baiting me.

Like, she'll say something annoying to me and look at me with evil in her eyes. I've tried ignoring it, but I just can't anymore. Any advice is very much appreciated. Ideally, not violence, but I will listen to your suggestions. All right. Thank you. Again, this is Autumn. Bye, guys. Love ya. Rage baiting. We got no examples. I would have loved an example. I do, I guess I'm aware of people who do this. Like, if you just want to push somebody's buttons, I guess is another way to say it.

We don't really have to deal with this in our day-to-day lives. And I don't think that this is a problem of We don't have someone here who is rage baiting because if they were doing that, they would no longer be here. Yeah, yeah. That's just not how we, that's not how we deal. But there are plenty of places of work where it's just like, you're all there kind of just doing the thing that you all do

and you can't go to your boss and be like, this person is an asshole. I just think, there's a lot of places like that. Having a work enemy can be fun. Okay, let's make it fun. You know, you're walking around, you're cute, cubicles, here they come. What are they going to say to me?

Is that booby traps? No, it's like, what are they going to say to me? See it as a game. Yeah, it's like you gotta get them in a different way. Like they're the eye contact, make you angry type. You need to be the like oil on the keyboard type, you know, the hidden camera in their car type. No, no, we're not going to get fired out. Okay, I'm brainstorming.

Well, where I thought you were going to go before you started talking about pranking and hidden cameras. cameras. Okay, yeah, let's back. Or worse, Sue. I didn't even say it. Sometimes, Jesse and I have, and I'm sure she got this from someplace, so I don't know where she got it from, but there have been moments where we have, there have been difficult situations with our children, you know, when they were teenagers or our teenagers. Where you're trying to communicate something. you're in the middle of, you know,

a difficult parent-child situation, which those happen, where Jesse is like, it's like you're facing the final boss, right? Like you're just like, how do I conduct myself in this situation where I cannot like fall into the trap that's being set for me

or repeat the pattern or whatever? You see it as a game that you're trying to achieve at. and I think that that can be helpful when it comes to a difficult person you can be like I've heard this philosophy from you how am I going to like part of my day is

you know this person comes Bowser comes along and Bowser has a mission to fire a little fireball at me or whatever the thing is and it's just like I can hear what I can learn is I can wait

I can jump over the fireball and then I know that he's going to jump up again and I can go under him and I can save the princess. Like you find the way to gamify the relationship in a way that's just like, today I'm going to do, what I'm going to do is when they try to rage bait me, I'm just going to look at them with a slight smile

and nothing and not be responsive in any other way. Let's see what kind of impact that has. Yeah. Today, I'm going to preempt them by complimenting their shirt. Oh, I got it. I'll do you one better. You're saying like, yeah, a killing with kindness technique. Or just confuse them. Like silent, silent confusion, killing with kindness, identify a weakness, a little insecurity. And it can start with something as simple as, you know, they're saying something to you and you're just looking down at their, you're looking at something,

you're looking at their shirt. And then they're like, there's something on your shirt. And then you do that thing where it's like, you hit them in the nose with your finger. Yeah. Or don't.

Even better than shirt, face, because they can't see their own face. And then you could just be like, sorry, I wasn't listening. There's like this thing on the side of your mouth. There's something on your face. You could also just look... I'm sorry, I didn't...

Yeah, exactly. Look above their eyes like this, like look at their hair. Yeah, that's off-putting. That's off-putting. Like, you're analyzing my forehead or my hair. Yeah, it's like, hold on. And then see what they say?

And then if they say, what are you looking at it? It's like, you. And just go back to the eyes and that like it didn't happen. But then go back to it afterward. Because you want to send them run into the restroom to look in a mirror. I'd be like, I don't see anything. What you want to do is you want to...

Throw them off. You're trying to break the loop. that's in their brain, which is they are getting a dopamine release when they do their thing and then you respond in the way they predict? Because dopamine is the prediction chemical, right? That's really, it's not the pleasure chemical. It's actually the anticipation chemical.

And so I anticipate that this person is going to have this response and then they do. And what you do is like, damn, every time I go up to so-and-so, they do something weird and unexpected and I can't deal with it anymore, so I'm not going to do it anymore. They'll direct it to somebody else.

Something on my body is always distracting them from hearing my rage bait. Yeah. Yeah. Rage bait, I like to come in, like, I like to respond with confusion or curiosity. Yes. Just like, well, that's a weird thing to say. Or come in be like, or be like. Which also works.

Yeah, like, yeah, I like to, I like to be like, huh, that was a choice to make. Yeah. Or what do you mean? Like, no, what do you mean? Yeah, ask more questions. Yeah, ask more questions. I'll just say, what? What?

What do you mean? Like, and then make them say it again. Oh, God, you could keep doing that. I didn't hear you. Could you repeat yourself? You're going to have to say that in a way that I can understand. I don't understand. Or it could just be what?

And then they keep talking, what? And then it's like, you know what? I think you're on mute. You could go to the whole Zoom route. Just like really give it to him? That'll really get it. I mean, that's a, that's a. They're reciprocation of rage-baiting.

These are advanced techniques. What? If it's like talking about something that they do, I'm like, well, that's a choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, well, that's a choice you could make. Unmute yourself. I still can't hear you.

Well, I think we're gonna have to reschedule. Don't start with that, though. Don't start with that. Start with like looking at their shirt or their hair. Their hair. With a corner of their mouth. But... Or just, and then start.

But what you can't do, what you can't do, Here's the thing you cannot do. I don't think. Is I don't think you can be prepared with a specific comeback. Because the comeback, even if it's perfectly crafted, fits the pattern that they're trying to reinforce,

which is they're trying to get a rise out of you. Most of the time, if you're like me, I don't, I'm not good at comebacks. Like, I don't have something for people, you know? So I, but if you're like, I know what I'm going to do and it is unrelated to what, what they're gonna do, you're breaking the expectation pattern.

Wow, boy, boy, what have we done? It's like, well, damn, I don't- We've done some good. And now all of a sudden, all the power is with you because they don't know how to predict what you're gonna do, but what they do does not elicit a predictable response. Three of those, they're gonna leave you alone. Yeah, try it.

Try it, call us back. Bait and tackle, baby. All right, that's it. We phoned in another one. I don't think it was that bad. Here we are again. Yeah, we're pretty good at this. I think what we're discovering is that the podcast was always bad.

Yeah, yeah, right, yeah. It's just we thought it was good. Right, yeah. Huh, you thought it was good. Thank you for being here. Call us now, 1-888-EARPOD 1. We'll talk out you next week. Hey, it's Cassidy from New Jersey.

I'm just calling to lodge a complaint. You guys keep claiming that you're going to phone it in for the last a few Ear Biscuits episodes and yet you keep banging out episodes that are just heartbreakingly honest full of charming anecdotes

witty banter that's not phoning it in guys it's selfish and hurtful that you guys are so damn good it's something you don't even want to do I'm kidding and I love you thanks bye

Thank you.